Can We Escape Our Presuppositions?

Pastor Bill Farrow

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  One of the grand debates in the evangelical world is the debate surrounding the issue of presuppositionalism. Basically Presupp debates whether or not one can naturally overcome the perceptions and points of view that are the governing force in how all people persons and thus interact with the world. No one denies that we have presupps, There is no way to escape having them. That is not the question. The question is, is man a prisoner of those presupps?

One side would argue that man is able to over come them by the use of his mind as enabled by God and enlightened by the Scripture. They would argue that man, all men, has this ability naturally and, though difficult, is both capable of and responsible to perceive and submit to the truth revealed in the Bible. Most would argue that all men have this capability naturally as part of their make- up. The question at hand for this side is one of sufficient evidence and/or willingness to submit to that evidence on the part of the individual in question. The goal for this side of the debate then is to supply adequate information in form and fashion that is most useful to the hearer in order to give opportunity to respond to the presented truth either positively or negatively. To one degree or another, this side maintains that the response is left to the individual with the understanding that man has been given the capacity to respond as a part of the Imago Deo, the created Image of God all men bear.

Several observations can be made at this point. The first is that this sounds remarkably like Arminianism and even Pelagianism. Certainly, this is not necessarily so, but we should be careful that we are not venturing into unBiblical realms and assigning man capabilities that the Bible asserts he does not possess. Also, we need to be very careful of the need the Bible proclaims for the prevenient grace of God in order to apprehend His grace. This is critical, because if we compromise on this we do lapse into heresy and rob the Gospel of its salvific capacity. Further, we need to be careful of that which appeals to the pride of man at the expense of the true part that God plays in Salvation. A fourth concern is related to this, and that is the danger of falling prey to the erection of a human righteousness at the expense of full reliance on the imputed righteousness of Christ alone for salvation. As noted before, this is also disastrous and robs the Gospel of its saving power. 

In all fairness, we should note that simply asserting these things does not make them true. It is beyond the scope of this short note to fully discuss these issues and such a full discussion must be left to another time and another forum.

As we noted, that is one camp who, acknowledging  the presence of powerful presupps in everyone's lives, maintains the ability of man to overcome those presupps by the action and choice of the will as empowered by the Spirit and enlightened and instructed by the Word Of God. Of course, this is more simplified than it really ought to be but at well suit our purposes for the present.

The other side of the debate is formally called Presuppositionalism and maintains that our presupps are comprehensive in both their scope and their effect. By comprehensive scope is meant that there is no area of life and thought, either practical or theoretical that our presupps don't affect. By comprehensive in effect we mean that our presupps hold a determinative sway over the direction our lives and thoughts progress. The Presuppositionalist believes that man is held captive by his nature, of which his presupps are an integral and foundational part.

As a man thinks or believes in his heart, so is he! This truth is entirely consistent with all that the Bible presents as true about man's nature. A good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit and, likewise, a bad tree will never bring forth good fruit. Likewise the Biblical illustration of the good and bad springs and their respective products. God tells us that the mouth speaks from out of the abundance of the heart. All of these concepts are saying at least one thing in common. What is inside of a man determines what goes on outside. This is a basic tenet of Presuppositionalism. The Presuppositionalist will also maintain, in agreement with the other side, that these presupps can be and must be changed. Where we would disagree is in just how they are changed; that is, in the mechanism by which they are changed. Whereas the other side would maintain that the individual in view has the capacity naturally or within himself to abandon the old and embrace the new; the Presuppositionalist will maintain that the ability to change, though truly belonging to and being exercised by the individual, has its' origins in the prevenient gracious gift of God's regeneration. In other words, unless God changes the bad spring into a good spring, it cannot but continue to bring forth anything except the bad water its nature dictates it will bring forth.

Most would not argue that the recognition of the truth, specifically spiritual truth, is a virtuous act. Spiritual truth is not of the same category as natural truth. Natural truth (the Law of Gravity for example) is readily observable and can be verified and demonstrated to anyone. It is not discerned by the spirit of man, rather, it is simply recognized by   the mind of man as being true. This is not so of spiritual truth. The Word of God says that spiritual Truth, the specific kind of spiritual truth that leads to salvation, must be revealed from outside of us, it cannot be deduced by our own naturally occurring abilities. Actually, this is even true of General Revelation as well. Romans One tells us that even the revelation of nature, available to all men and perceived by each one of those self-same men, must still be explained by God Who "shows" it to them. Were these equipped to perceive and understand (and thus respond) to such revealed truth, that would be no need for any explanatory work by God. 

All of this simply underscores the truth that man is indeed a prisoner of His presuppositions. He cannot naturally and independently abandon them any more than be can abandon his nature to remain earth-bound and fly like a bird. Someone will observe that man does indeed fly in this day age, he has found a way and battled through and achieved the goal!